Chapter 7 - THE PRESCRIPTION TRAIL
Martin Hale denied prescribing anything to me.
He did it through his attorney.
By noon, Rachel had received a carefully worded statement saying Martin had never treated me and had no knowledge of medication being administered without my consent.
Technically, it might even have been true.
So we stopped asking whether Martin prescribed something to me.
We asked where Vanessa obtained it.
The pharmacy records for Sophie's medication arrived first.
Both pickups had been made by Vanessa.
That established one fact.
It didn't prove she used the medication improperly.
The more important record came from my own primary-care physician.
The compound in my blood wasn't the same antihistamine prescribed to Sophie.
Different drug.
Different source.
My theory collapsed.
I hated that.
I wanted one clean conspiracy.
Reality was messier.
Rachel reminded me that being wrong about one connection didn't erase the others.
Nathan called while we were leaving her office.
“I found Eric.”
I stopped walking.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
He sent me a public-record result.
Eric Dawson had changed his surname after entering a confidential domestic-violence relocation program years earlier.
The program itself wasn't public, but an old civil filing connected the identities.
Vanessa hadn't lied because Eric had died.
She had lied because she didn't want me finding him.
Nathan had located an attorney who had represented Eric.
Rachel contacted her professionally.
Two hours later, the attorney called back.
Eric would speak to me.
Under conditions.
No recording.
No location disclosure.
Rachel present.
I agreed.
His voice came through a secure conference call that evening.
Older than I remembered.
Still frightened.
“Is the little girl safe?”
“Yes.”
“Keep her away from Vanessa.”
“What happened to you?”
Silence.
Then Eric answered.
“She tried to have me declared incompetent.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
He described a marriage that had begun normally and deteriorated after his logistics company became valuable.
He became mysteriously ill.
He grew confused.
He missed meetings.
Vanessa began telling business partners he was unstable.
A physician supported her concerns.
“Martin?”
“Yes.”
That was the second major payoff.
Martin hadn't merely known Eric.
Eric accused him of helping Vanessa construct a medical narrative around him.
“But there was someone else,” Eric said.
“Who?”
“I never proved it.”
“Was it Nathan?”
“No.”
My brother exhaled beside me.
Eric continued.
“The person helping Vanessa had access to my finances before she did.”
A financial insider.
Not Martin.
Not Nathan.
Before I could ask more, Eric said something stranger.
“Daniel, how did Emily die?”
Every muscle in my body locked.
“Complications after childbirth.”
“Who handled the life-insurance paperwork?”
I knew the answer immediately.
My financial adviser.
Charles Voss.
May you like
The same man who had introduced me to Vanessa.
📖 Eric cleared Nathan of one suspicion but connected Vanessa to the man managing my money, turning my late wife's insurance records into the next battlefield. 👇
